Action alert: Tell Amazon to ban all whale products

Following the launch of our campaign to urge internet retailer Amazon to stop selling whale meat via its subsidiary Amazon Japan, the company has withdrawn all such products from sale.

That’s an encouraging first step but doesn’t go far enough – we want the company to make a formal declaration that all whale, dolphin and porpoise products will be banned from all Amazon websites, permanently.

Here are four easy but important ways in which you can play a vital role in keeping up the pressure on Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, telling them that profiting from the slaughter of whales is unacceptable:

1. Share our campaign film

EIA has produced this 50-second campaign film to raise awareness of Amazon’s sales of whale products.

Please use the Share and Embed codes in the upper right corner of the film to pass it around among your family, friends and contacts, and to embed it any online forums and communities you frequent, such as Facebook and Google+.

The more pressure that can be put on Amazon, the more it is likely to do the right thing!

2. Send a Tweet

If you are a Twitter user, send a Tweet to Amazon calling on it to ban all sales of whale and dolphin products. You can compose your own, or use the sample Tweet below.

You can also follow EIA’s Twitter account @EIAinvestigator and reTweet our messages about this issue.

3. Send an email

Let Amazon know how unacceptable it is to be making money from the slaughter of whales by sending an email to CEO Jeff Bezos.

You can compose your own message, or use/adapt the sample email below, sent for the attention of Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos at jeff@amazon.com.

To Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon.com Inc

Following the revelation in the Environmental Investigation Agency report Amazon.com’s Unpalatable Profits (https://eia-international.org/?p=4917) that Amazon Japan is selling whale products, I am deeply concerned to learn that your company has been profiting from this cruel trade and respectfully request that the entire Amazon family immediately and permanently bans the sale of all whale and dolphin products.

Japan’s whale and dolphin hunting is a brutal, artificially sustained business which has no place in the 21st century, a view I would hope to find shared by a company as progressive and “customer-centric” as Amazon.

You may be aware that some of the whale products sold through Amazon originate from endangered species which have been granted international protection, while others have been shown to contain dangerously high levels of mercury and other toxins seriously harmful to human health.

While I understand that whale products have been removed from Amazon Japan, please demonstrate that you and Amazon genuinely care about our world, its oceans and their inhabitants by formally announcing you will ban the sale of all whale and dolphin products, now and forever.

EIA on Facebook

China's blow to recycling means increased demand for brand new plastic - and the USA is cashing in

At a time when the apparent scale of global plastic pollution is spurring many nations to take action to reduce manufacture and prevent plastic waste from further polluting the environment, opening new polyethylene plants is reckless and irresponsible, akin to opening new CFC production factories after we first discovered ozone depletion.

And guess what? The same companies that punched a continent-sized hole in the ozone layer are still involved …

The world’s governments need to focus on reducing production of virgin plastics and investing in domestic reuse and recycling – continued growth of plastic production will just perpetuate the throwaway society and marine plastic pollution.

The loss of forests in Africa in the past century is substantially less than previously estimated, an analysis of historical records and paleontology evidence by Yale researchers shows.

Previous estimates put deforestation at 35% to 55% on the continent since 1900. The new analysis estimates closed-canopy forests have shrunk by 21.7%, according to findings published Dec. 11 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. However, research also shows that some West and East African forests have been reduced between 80% and 90%.

International award recognises EIA’s ‘unique’ climate investigations and work

We were delighted to be among 60 recipients recognised in the Ozone Awards 2017 by Parties to the Montreal Protocol for extraordinary commitment and outstanding contributions to fighting climate change.

EIA was singled out for a Partnership Award in recognition of its unique contributions over several decades. The Secretariat noted: “From hard-hitting investigations on illegal ODS trade to successful advocacy to accelerate the HCFC phase-out and adopt a global HFC phase-down, EIA plays a unique and valuable role within the Montreal Protocol family."